A woman charged in the 2021 kidnapping and killing of Hartselle resident Mary Elizabeth Isbell — who prosecutors said was pushed off a cliff near Fort Payne — was sentenced to life in prison Feb. 6 in DeKalb County Circuit Court, according to court records.
Records show Fort Payne resident Loretta Kay Carr, 46, received an additional 20-year prison sentence for first-degree kidnapping, to be served consecutively with her life sentence for murder. Carr pleaded guilty to both charges under a plea agreement that reduced an original capital murder charge. She remains incarcerated in the DeKalb County Jail, where she has been held since her arrest on June 25, 2023.
Isbell’s ex-husband reported her missing to the Hartselle Police Department on Dec. 27, 2021. Police said she had been living in DeKalb County. DeKalb County investigators said phone records helped determine that Isbell had been living in the county, but physical evidence from the scene did not produce national database matches and numerous leads pursued by law enforcement and volunteers had proved unsuccessful…